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Charlie Hebdo 'survivors' edition' flies off Canadian shelves

Gatineau man Tim Goulet lined up at 10:30 p.m. Thursday to be first in line to buy Charlie Hebdo magazine at Mags and Fags on Elgin St. when the store opened Friday at 7 a.m.
Corey Larocque / Ottawa Sun

MONTREAL/TORONTO -- Copies of Charlie Hebdo flew off shelves across Canada Friday, but people in Toronto were left empty-handed.

A special edition of the satirical magazine went on sale Friday, just over a week after a terrorist massacre at its Paris offices.

Magazine retailer Presse Commerce, which operates 450 Canadian stores, said it had 300 reservations for Charlie Hebdo at one Montreal store alone, but just 200 copies for the entire country.

A small number were to be shipped to stores in Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto and Calgary, but most were sent to Quebec.

But eager readers in Toronto will have to wait to try to get their copies due to a logistical problem.

"(The copies) didn't get to our distributor in time to make the deadline for the truck coming to Ontario," Arlene Shepard, a spokesman for Gateway Newstands, explained Friday.

They are now expected to arrive in Toronto sometime Monday, but Shepard cautioned that the 55 copies "have been spoken for."

Romain Fleury, an executive at Presse Commerce, told QMI Agency he's never seen such demand for a magazine, not even after the 9/11 attacks.

"People want to have a copy of the magazine, I suppose, to share something, to participate...a gesture of their support," Fleury said from his Montreal office.

"It's part of history," said Tim Goulet, a Gatineau, Que., man who was first in line at Mags and Fags in downtown Ottawa to hand over $6.50 for a coveted copy of this week's edition. "I want to be able to read it and get it sealed and framed."

Two brothers — Cherif and Said Kouachi — opened fire on Charlie Hebdo's offices on Jan. 7, killing 12 people, including the editor-in-chief and all four star cartoonists. The killers were shot dead two days later after a long standoff with police.

Charlie Hebdo had angered terrorists by printing cartoons of the Muslim prophet Mohammed. Surviving staff went ahead with a "survivors' edition" this week, again featuring Mohammed, this time on the front cover.

The magazine printed five million copies, 100 times more than usual. It sent just 1,500 copies to Canada.

Canadian distributor LMPI said it expects all of the Canadian copies to sell out quickly, and it hopes to order 15,000 more.

Fleury said there were no plans for extra security at stores despite Charlie Hebdo's provocative content.

"Even though Canada has been a target with the (terrorist attacks) in the fall, we don't feel concerned."

Meanwhile, at a special Friday prayer at a mosque outside Toronto, the Ahmadiyya Muslim community expressed concerns about the publication.

Lal Khan Malik, national president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at, fears widespread circulation will only heighten differences between Muslims -- who take deep offence at caricaturing the prophet -- and non-Muslims.

Malik asked that newsstands carrying the issue "not pour fuel on this fire."

"On one side, we condemn the act of the attacks," he told reporters. "But we also say that for the sake of the peace of the world, vilification of religious personalities should not go on. There should be reasonable limits to our freedom."

In his sermon Friday, he advised the congregation to "ignore" the offensive cartoons.

"Our reaction should be that we should ignore this annoyance and this provocation and leave the matter to God," Malik said.